Lafourche Parish, Louisiana

Lafourche Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States, about 55 miles southwest of New
Orleans along Bayou Lafourche. It had a population of 97,557 at the 2020 census, an estimated
96,252 by 2024, and covers 1,068 square miles (2,770 km2) of land centred near 29°29′N 90°24′W.

Thibodaux is the parish seat; its postal code is 70301. The parish holds 1 city, 2 incorporated
towns and 16 census-designated or unincorporated communities along Bayou Lafourche and the Gulf
coast, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 22057.

Towns & Villages in Lafourche Parish

Lafourche Parish has 19 named places on record: 3 incorporated municipalities and 16
census-designated places (CDPs) or unincorporated communities with no local government of their
own. CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers named communities with no formal
boundary or population count of their own.

Two places on this list straddle parish lines. Bayou Blue’s 13,352 residents are split
between Lafourche and neighboring Terrebonne Parish, with the larger share on the Terrebonne
side around Houma; the Lafourche Parish School District serves only its own portion. Des
Allemands sits across the Lafourche–St. Charles Parish line, and its 2,179 residents are
likewise divided between the two parishes rather than counted entirely as Lafourche’s
own.

ZIP Codes

• 70301 — Thibodaux (also serves Lafourche Crossing and Bayou Country Club)
• 70302 — Thibodaux (Nicholls State University station)
• 70310 — Thibodaux
• 70394 — Raceland
• 70354 — Galliano
• 70373 — Larose
• 70345 — Cut Off
• 70374 — Lockport (also serves Lockport Heights)
• 70375 — Mathews
• 70357 — Golden Meadow (also serves Port Fourchon)
• 70371 — Kraemer

Chackbay, Choctaw, Des Allemands, Leeville and Gheens have no ZIP code of their own; mail
there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code.

Geography

Lafourche Parish runs from the flat sugar-cane land of the Bayou Lafourche natural levee in
the north to open marsh and the Gulf of Mexico shoreline in the south. Of its 1,474 square
miles, 1,068 are land and 406 are water, about 28 percent — among the highest water shares
of any Louisiana parish, reflecting the wetlands and canals south of Golden Meadow. Bayou
Lafourche runs the length of the parish and once carried the full flow of the Mississippi River
before an 1904 dam cut it off at Donaldsonville; the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway crosses the
parish east to west through Larose.

St. James Parish and St. John the Baptist Parish lie to the north, St. Charles Parish to the
northeast, Jefferson Parish to the east, Terrebonne Parish to the west, Assumption Parish to the
northwest, and the Gulf of Mexico forms the parish’s southern edge. St. James Parish, St. John the Baptist
Parish, St. Charles Parish,
Jefferson Parish, Terrebonne Parish and Assumption Parish all border
Lafourche directly.

Demographics

Lafourche Parish had a population of 97,557 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the parish near 96,252 residents in 2024, a small decline tied in part to Hurricane Ida’s
2021 landfall. Thibodaux and Raceland are the two largest communities wholly inside the parish;
Bayou Blue is larger still but shares its population with Terrebonne Parish. Median household
income runs $63,135, above Louisiana’s statewide figure of $58,229. Population density
works out to roughly 91 people per square mile of land, concentrated along Bayou Lafourche and
the parish’s northern sugar-cane country, with the southern wetlands and Gulf coast almost
entirely unpopulated.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the parish, about 6,109 people,
followed by retail trade at 4,599 and educational services at 4,058. Thibodaux Regional Health
System is the parish’s largest hospital employer, and Nicholls State University, founded in
1948 and enrolling about 6,366 students, is Thibodaux’s biggest single employer and home to
the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, one of the first US bachelor’s programs in culinary
arts. Port Fourchon, at the parish’s southern tip, services more than 90 percent of Gulf of
Mexico deepwater oil production and supports over 600 offshore platforms within 40 miles,
anchoring an oil-and-gas services cluster that runs the length of Bayou Lafourche through
Galliano and Golden Meadow. Fishing and shrimping remain major industries in Cut Off, Golden
Meadow and Larose. The parish’s biggest annual event is Thibodaux’s Fireman’s
Fair each August, one of Louisiana’s oldest community festivals.

History

The Louisiana territorial legislature created Lafourche Parish in 1807, carving it out of the
larger Lafourche Interior Parish, which also became Terrebonne Parish. The name comes from Bayou
Lafourche itself, French for “the fork,” describing the bayou’s split from the
Mississippi River near Donaldsonville. Thibodaux, first settled around 1808 as a trading post
called Thibodeauxville, was incorporated as a town in 1830 and became the parish seat.

The parish’s sugar-cane plantation economy relied on enslaved and later low-wage Black
labor through the 19th century. In November 1887, a strike by roughly 10,000 sugar workers
demanding higher wages ended when white militia forces attacked Black workers and their families
in Thibodaux over several days, killing an estimated 35 to 50 people in what became known as the
Thibodaux Massacre — one of the deadliest episodes of labor violence in US history. More
recently, Hurricane Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon on 29 August 2021 as a Category 4 storm,
the strongest to strike the parish on record, causing severe damage from Golden Meadow north
through Larose and Cut Off.

Getting There

US Highway 90 crosses the parish’s north end through Raceland and Lafourche Crossing;
no interstate currently runs through Lafourche Parish, though a future extension of Interstate 49
is planned along the US 90 corridor. Louisiana Highway 1 runs the length of the parish alongside
Bayou Lafourche from Thibodaux south to Port Fourchon, and Louisiana Highways 20, 24, 182, 304
and 308 also serve the parish.

• Houma — about 15 miles west of Thibodaux
• New Orleans — about 55 miles northeast of Thibodaux
• Port Fourchon — about 55 miles south of Thibodaux
• Napoleonville — about 20 miles northwest of Thibodaux

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, roughly 60 miles northeast of Thibodaux,
is the nearest major commercial airport. Houma-Terrebonne Airport, about 15 miles west, handles
general aviation and the offshore-oil helicopter traffic that also uses Port Fourchon’s
heliports directly. Lafourche Parish has no Amtrak station; the nearest is New Orleans Union
Passenger Terminal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Lafourche Parish located?
It sits in southeastern Louisiana along Bayou Lafourche, about 55 miles southwest of New
Orleans, bordered by St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Jefferson, Terrebonne and
Assumption parishes and the Gulf of Mexico.

What is the population of Lafourche Parish?
97,557 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 96,252.

How big is Lafourche Parish?
1,474 square miles (3,820 km2) in total, of which 1,068 square miles (2,770 km2) are land and
406 square miles are water.

What is the parish seat of Lafourche Parish?
Thibodaux, incorporated in 1830, is the parish seat and largest city.

How many towns and villages are in Lafourche Parish?
Three incorporated municipalities — Thibodaux, Golden Meadow and Lockport — plus 16
census-designated places and unincorporated communities including Raceland, Galliano, Larose,
Cut Off and Port Fourchon.

What ZIP codes does Lafourche Parish use?
70301, 70302 and 70310 for Thibodaux; 70394 for Raceland; 70354 for Galliano; 70373 for Larose;
70345 for Cut Off; 70374 for Lockport; 70357 for Golden Meadow and Port Fourchon; and 70371 for
Kraemer.

What is Lafourche Parish known for?
Port Fourchon, which services over 90 percent of Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil production, and
the 1887 Thibodaux Massacre, one of the deadliest labor conflicts in US history.

More counties in this state: Towns
and villages in Louisiana.